| To All Members of Bingley Harriers – a club email (see below) has gone out today concerning the restarting of club activities. If you have not received this please contact the club secretary secretary@bingleyharriers.org.uk so your email can be checked / updated. Dear Member We hope you are managing to keep well and safe in the unusual circumstances we have had to cope with over the last few months but no doubt you have taken the opportunity to take your regular exercise and maintain a satisfactory level of fitness. Your Committee has recently been meeting to discuss how we can get back together to restart the club’s activities within the Covid guidelines. We are not quite there yet with a few issues to be resolved but we will update you all shortly with more definite plans. Firstly though just to let you know that events have been taking place. There have been some virtual competitions for all as well as charity fund raising events by individuals, all involving club members. The virtual events included the British Masters 5km race, the FRA virtual Championship including the short race, a version of the Eldwick Gala Fell Race (58 club members competed), together with medium and long fell events. There has also been a triple jump competition. All these events have provided the opportunity for everyone to take part in their own way. John Parkin completed a solo 100 miles in 41 hours in his back garden completing 7667 laps of 21 metres and raising £4,100 for Manorlands. Stephen Fry, with a small group, ran the 42 miles from Holme Moss to Hope Hill raising £3,000 for the Bradford Soup Run (a charity feeding and supporting the Homeless). It is amazing how resourceful people can be in difficult circumstances! To bring you up to date, Becky Weight has been appointed as the club’s Covid 19 Officer and has spent a lot of time reading and interpreting guidelines from the Government, England Athletics and local authorities. Becky is also our Bradford and Bingley Sports Club Liaison Officer and has had discussions with the Manager, who is also the venue Covid Officer. The Sports Club is open but some restrictions apply. We can meet there, use a section of the grass area and socialise in the bar, all subject to Covid guidelines. We would now like to restart the Tuesday and Thursday club runs but this is dependent on having Run Leaders available who are prepared to take appropriately sized groups. Also coaching on the grass area may restart, again subject to having Coaches prepared to attend and bearing in mind the Covid situation. To enable these sessions we will also need to prepare risk assessments and procedures for all the activities as well as risk assessments for the Covid exposure. We hope to be able to provide some training and coaching for juniors but again we must be mindful of Covid guidelines which are slightly different for juniors. So, nothing is straightforward but in the interest of keeping everyone as safe as practical within the England Athletics and local guidelines we will endeavour to put in place a plan to start training and coaching over the next few weeks. Unfortunately, track and field activities may be further delayed as suitable venues are closed at present. However, whatever your chosen discipline, the club Coaches can be contacted to give advice and maybe a training plan which could be implemented during the present difficult circumstances so at least you will be able to train effectively. Please bear in mind your committee, together with Running Leaders and Coaches, are working hard to put safe measures in place for the benefit of members of the club. Please note that anyone who is not a fully paid-up member of Bingley Harriers and Athletic Club will not be covered by insurance and should not be taking part in activities organised by the club. As a final message, if you are out training please be aware of maintaining social distancing, members of the public can be sensitive and unused to being in close proximity to heavy breathing, sweaty runners!! All your Committee members hope you keep safe and well. We look forward to seeing you again to enjoy the many varied competitive, leisure and social activities as a member of Bingley Harriers. Best regards Your Committee |